


the boy who ran

by Rockium



Series: the thoughts of ghosts and other things along the way [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, At least for the first two chapters, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff and Angst, Foreshadowing, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I have no regrets and you cannot stop me, POV Second Person, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader dies, chapter 1 reader’s name is Marvel, chapter 2 reader’s name is Alyssa, for about a week haha, not beta read we die like Marvel does in chapter 1, read Entity NEO for context, that’s it, the only fluff you’re probably getting is in the first part of chapter 1, well reader of chapter 1 dies but whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:14:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28452948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rockium/pseuds/Rockium
Summary: Explore Mount Ebott, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. It’s not so fun once you trip down a hole and wind up in a fantasyland that’s deathly afraid of your kind, but you’ve run cross-country before. Surely you’ll be able to find a way out of this mountain before anyone notices, right?...(A mostly second-person retelling of chapters 11 and 12 of Entity NEO, an Undertale Napstablook-centric fancomic.)
Series: the thoughts of ghosts and other things along the way [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2084034
Comments: 5
Kudos: 3





	1. the boy who ran

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Entity NEO](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/727137) by Mod NEO and Mod Migosp. 



> Apparently, I’m not done writing fanfic outta this fancomic yet, and until there comes a time where I stop thinking about EN daily, I never will be.
> 
> Really though, I’d almost forgotten how much fun (and how much I want to throw my drafts out the window) writing fanfic is. Never thought I’d start writing that again just because I got emotionally invested in EN, yet here I am.
> 
> Without further ado, here’s the thing that has ruined my sleep schedule for the past week, and then some.

“This is it, right?”

In all your many, many years living at its foot, Mount Ebott still fills you with a whimsical sense of wonder and intrigue that you can’t quite describe in words. Everyone around here knows the legend - all those who go missing in the mountain never return. But why? Why do all these cases continue to remain unsolved? What’s so special about Mount Ebott? Never has anyone been able to crack the mystery surrounding it…

...until today. Today, after weeks of planning and preparation, you and your friends will bust the myth once and for all. You will venture into the mountain, find out what makes it so infamous that even your parents caution you against approaching it, and return to tell the tale. If you’re lucky, you might even be able to find some of the guys who disappeared into that giant lump of rock! Most notably, that kid who went missing last month. At least they might still be alive and kicking. Everyone else, though?...well, you’d probably be lucky to find whatever’s left of them. Some of these cases are from several decades back, after all.

“Oooh, spooky!” Dolan mutters sarcastically, poking his flashlight into one of the darker corners of the woods, and finding nothing but a rabbit which scampers away as soon as it hears the lot of you. For a place so shrouded in mystery and fear, Mount Ebott is...hilariously dull. Even as the sun sets, the forest doesn’t gradually turn into an intimidating, haunted wood, and the only things here even remotely scary are the eye patterns naturally engraved into the birch trees flanking the forest pathway. That’s all there is to it.

“Hah! A kid disappeared on this mountain not long ago, right?” Trey laughs, kicking up fallen leaves with her sneakers. You can’t really blame that kid - Frisk was their name, wasn’t it? - for getting lost in even a boring place like this, though. When you were their age, you managed to get lost at the zoo of all places, simply because you didn’t know how to read maps back then. Mount Ebott has no geographical maps, so their situation was probably way worse.

“Yeah...weird. It doesn’t really look spooky,” Alyssa pipes up, and you nod in agreement. Perhaps that’s what makes this place so strange...it appears all normal from the outside, but there’s something paranormal within that lures all who go missing into its depths, never to return...creepy!

“Maybe that’s part of the mystery! It looks all dull and uninteresting and stuff, but there’s monsters deep in the woods that capture the missing and spirit them away!” You suggest, mimicking one of those would-be “monsters” with grasping hands and a really funky snarl. “Like, “rarrr, I’m gonna make jam outta your bones and steal your soul” or something, right? Haha!” 

The rest of the gang chuckles at your mock impression. “Heh! If there’s a zombie monster out ‘ere in these parts, maybe!” Vishal laughs, raising his arms into the air as he does his impression of a ghost. “Or they’re like, “wooo, I’m gonna trap you here for the rest of your life”!”

From there, the trip devolves into increasingly hilarious impressions of the supposed monsters in the mountain until you find a spot to set up camp. By then, all the ruckus you’ve made must’ve scared off all the animals in the area and probably some of the mythical monsters, too, so maybe that’s a good thing? Nothing’s gonna steal your soul, or make your bones into jam, or creep you all out in general.

...granted, you thought the infamous Mount Ebott would be more interesting than this. Maybe the monsters of legend only appear in the dead of night? If they even exist, of course, but you aren’t one to be skeptical. There’s gotta be a reason behind the missing cases, the mystery, the local fairytale of fantastical creatures being banished under the mountain, right?

By the time you’ve set up a roaring campfire and had roasted marshmallows and sausages under the stars, it’s already quite late into the night. All the noise you’ve made had died down some hours ago - surely now you’ll have better luck uncovering the secrets of the mountain? 

“Hey, where are you going?” Alyssa asks, probably noticing you grabbing your flashlight and eyeing the forest trail.

“Oh! With the others. We’re just gonna poke around,” you answer, checking your stuff. 

“Why? Looking for monsters?”

“Haha!” Truthfully, you highly doubt you’ll find anything of interest on this short trip, but there’s no harm in exploring, right? “Well, this place seems pretty dull for being legendary and stuff! We just wanna take a look. Wanna come?”

She laughs and shakes her head. “No way, it’s cold!”

“Don’t worry ‘bout that! You can always borrow my jacket, Ally!” You immediately offer, and then realize just exactly what you’re implying, but she (thankfully) declines before you even get a chance to slip its sleeves off your shoulders. 

“No, no, really, I’m fine! You can go on ahead without me,” she says, grinning sheepishly. 

Well, if she doesn’t want to come...you’re just the slightest bit disappointed, but that’s totally fine! “‘Kay, suit yourself!”

“Don’t get lost!” 

“Haha!” Like you would in this less-than-spectacular forest. You wave goodbye and set foot on the forest trail, shining your flashlight into Mount Ebott’s darkness. Dolan and Trey should be further down here; hopefully you’ll run into them sooner or later…

Once you think you’re out of earshot, you let out a sigh of relief. And also smack yourself a bit for offering her your jacket - what kind of a dumb move was that? Now Alyssa definitely knows you have feelings for her, if you hadn’t dropped similar hints before, and you are in no way prepared to elaborate on that just yet...thank god you have this time now to ponder. _It’s all just a matter of when and where I should confess, right? I...I could bring her over to Dad’s diner on our next date- nah, too casual. Maybe the French restaurant down the street?...yeah no, it feels too over-the-top and the queue looks like it’ll take forever...wait, I’ve got the perfect idea! I’ll bring her out to the movies, just like the first time...should I?_

Besides location, you also have to account for several other things. How would you pop the question? At what moment should you do it?...and what if she doesn’t feel the same way? Oh god, that would be so embarrassing, and then your relationship would likely be ruined forever. What then?...

 _...wait a minute. Dolan and Trey’ve been dating for about a month now, right?...I could catch up to them and ask for advice! Brilliant!_ Now all you have to do is just find the two. They should be somewhere within this thicket of the woods, right?...

You were so certain that they would be in this corner of the forest, but it seems as though your ears had tricked you. Strange, you could’ve sworn you heard their voices near this cavern entrance…

”Guys?...Wow, nice of them to leave me out here,” you mutter, shining your flashlight into the cave. “...guys? Are you in th-”

In all your searching, you fail to notice the tree root sprawled right in front of you until it’s far too late, and you trip and tumble into the abyss below.

* * *

“Owwww…” 

If you’ve earned anything from deciding to venture into the wilderness of Mount Ebott alone, it’s a splitting headache. You let yourself lie amongst the flowers - are those really...?...yeah, those are some surprisingly cushy flowers alright - and rub your temples until the pain subsides a bit and the world no longer feels like it’s spinning.

Once you’re sure the pain in the back of your head won’t flare up again, you fumble for your flashlight and assess your situation. Judging from how high up the moon above seems and from how long your fall was... _how am I still alive, actually?_ Crazier still, you don’t feel like you’ve broken any bones. Was that all because of the flowers breaking your fall? For now, you decide not to ponder the logistics of what miracle saved your spine from snapping in several places upon hitting the ground, and instead focus on finding a way out.

The hole is way too deep for you to climb out yourself, unfortunately, and to add insult to injury, you distinctly remember purposefully leaving your phone at home so that mum and dad wouldn’t be able to track your location and find you here...well, a fat lot of good that’s doing you right now. 

_...Shit._

You’ve got no way to climb out yourself, and no way to call for help... _guess I’ll have to poke around,_ you muse, picking yourself up. Surely there has to be another way out of this hole?...immediately, you find an ornate archway, the top embellished with some sort of winged circle emblem, flanked by triangles. Signs of some civilization down here, maybe? Cautiously, you walk through the passageway-

“Well well well! What do we have here?”

 _-what in the goddamn hell was that?_ Aiming your flashlight downwards, the answer pops out of the ground right in front of you - a small, golden flower with an eerily cheery grin which only grows wider the second you notice it. You can practically feel your jaw hitting the floor.

 _Holy shit, the legends were right after all…_ There’s actual monsters in the mountain, and you have just found one.

The talking flower notices your apparent shock in no time at all. “Hmm...you’re new to the Underground, aren’tcha?”

“The Underground?” You mutter in abject confusion. _That’s what this hole’s called?_ Absolute lack of naming originality aside, that must mean that this place is a lot bigger than just two rooms, right? 

“Yup!” The flower replies all too eagerly. “Golly, you must be so confused!”

“...uh, yeah, I guess you could say that?” You mumble, absentmindedly scratching the lingering ache at the back of your head. “Really though, I’d just like to know - is there a way out of this place? The Underground? Because I kinda need to find a way out real quick-”

 _-before any of my friends start to worry_ is left unsaid, for the sentient blossom cuts you off. “Woah, not so fast there, buddy! I haven’t even introduced myself. I’m Flowey. Flowey the flower!”

...wow, how wonderfully creative. If this talking flower was the one responsible for giving the Underground its name, you wouldn’t be particularly surprised.

“And I’m your new best friend!”

-hold up two seconds. “I-I’m sorry, _what?_ ”

The verbal pansy cracks a playful, slightly irritating wink in response. “Oh, you heard me right, kiddo!”

Okay, this flower’s got some nerve. “...um, that’s a little fast for friendship, don’t you think? Flowey? I-I mean, we’ve only just-”

“Hey. Buddy. _You_ slow down for a second, ya got me?” The flower interrupts once more, its insufferable grin growing unnervingly smug, and you have to bite the bottom of your lip to force yourself to hold your tongue.

“You wanna head back to the surface, right?”

“...well, yeah, I-”

“Look,” Flowey starts, its tone lacking all of the airy cheeriness it had moments prior. “I know this place like the back of my leaves, so I’m pretty much your lifeline if you wanna make it outta here alive.”

...as doubtful as you are of this sentient plant’s claim, and as much as the weed itself unnerves you considerably with its all-too-friendly shtick towards you, you’ve got nothing to argue against its reasoning.

As you mull over your extremely limited options, the flower gives you another wink. “You get all that?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess-”

“Alright!” It terrifies you slightly to see this talking blossom suddenly become so goddamn _peppy,_ but if it’s offering to help you get home as soon as possible…

“Trust me, buddy.”

In a flash, the golden flower disappears into the ground, and the next thing you know, you hear its singsong voice calling you from beyond the next doorway.

“You’re gonna need to take my advice if you wanna make it back home!”

 _...I’ve really got no choice here, huh?_ Not like the flower asked for your opinion anyway, but if this is the help you’re gonna get…

Following the voice from deeper within the caverns, you venture into the kingdom underneath the legendary mountain.

* * *

If you weren’t in such a hurry to find a way out of here, and if you actually had your phone, you probably would’ve gladly called Dolan and Alyssa and everyone else down here to explore these ancient, abandoned catacombs. Several times you pause to breathe and also to admire the brick foundations and the ornate marble pillars that hold everything together, all strangely dusty, before you continue jogging through the ruins.

Oddly enough, besides you and Flowey, you can barely find anyone else around here. Once or twice though, you manage to spot monsters that look like strange, overgrown frogs and sprites that glow a little in the dark, but they always flee the second they notice you, with so much _fear_ in their eyes and in their movements that you start sensing that something is terribly off.

“Oh, don’t let them get you down…” the flower reassures, brushing them aside entirely, yet you can’t seem to shake the feeling that something very wrong has happened here before, giving the monsters a good reason to be very afraid of you.

Often, you spot thick, thorny vines, a lively bright green against the dull, faded violet of their surroundings, always blocking off paths or creating walkways through hidden pits and spike traps, and always you spot Flowey somewhere nearby, smiling at you with its unsettling, signature grin.

“You’ve got me, after all!” The flower smirks and disappears into the earth, leaving you to find your own way forward, and to start wondering. _I mean, it’s a good thing that this flower wants to help me get home...but why is it doing this? Does it have a motive?_

Eventually, the blocked pathways and the numerous vines lead you right to the entrance of a quaint little house, overlooking a sprawling, leafless tree surrounded by piles of maroon and bright orange. Is this really the place?...you turn and lock eyes with the golden flower, who gives its fingerless equivalent of a thumbs-up. You’re on the right track...but it’s a bit strange that you have to pass through someone’s house, isn’t it?...

...and it’s entirely deserted, just like the rest of these caverns. Even though it’s not even cold, and you have a jacket on, you shudder at the unfriendly, unsettling atmosphere. This house looks so well-lived in - where’d its occupant run off to? And where are you supposed to go first? There’s the hallways on your left and right to explore, and then there’s the stairway leading to the basement…

“Here. Let me help you out.” 

Within moments, thick thorny vines seal off the hallways, while another points directly towards the stairway. It doesn’t take long for you to find the one behind all this - Flowey pops up from one of the vases near the wall, pretending to be an innocuous, smiling houseplant. _...I’m not sure if I needed the help there, but thanks?..._

The basement too is another long, narrow path containing absolutely nothing but the exit to this silent, empty place.

...actually, come to think of it, there was an unusually large pile of scattered dust near the end of it, so there technically was something here?...

“Great job making it all the way here, bud!” The flower pops up in a patch of open grass, grinning at you still. “You’re almost there! Nearly to freedom now!”

“...actually, may I ask you something?” You mumble, looking at the exit ahead. “This exit won’t lead me directly out of the Underground, will it?”

“Nope, it’ll just lead ya to the rest of it. I gotta admit though, you’re more perceptive than ya look - what gave it away?”

“...I had a hunch, that’s all,” you reply, slightly unsettled by the talking flower’s answer. “So if this exit’s just to the rest of the Underground...how big is it, exactly?”

“Well kid, not to worry! If you’re great at traversing on foot, you should be able to clear Snowdin, Waterfall, Hotland and New Home in no time at all! Especially with me helping you find shortcuts, of course.”

It takes a second before you realize Flowey’s referring to different sections of the Underground. Supposedly. “Wait, that’s what the different areas of the Underground are called?” _Also, who’s the one naming all these places, and what’s up with them?_

“Right what it says on the tin, bud. The old king wasn’t the best at naming things,” the flower remarks. “Well, what are you waiting for, talking to lil’ ol’ me? You’d better get going if you wanna head home before the night’s up!”

Flowey sends you a wink, and disappears into the ground.

“Be seeing you!”

Once again you’re left alone with nothing but your two legs and your flashlight, and you set your sights on the rest of the Underground ahead of you. If what Flowey said is actually legitimate (you really hope it all is), you won’t be stuck down here long. Besides, you’ve run cross-country before - a whole kingdom under a relatively small mountain shouldn’t pose too much of an issue, right?...

You push open the door separating the ruins from the rest of the cavern, and let your flashlight light the way as you sprint into the snow.

* * *

For an area under a mountain which receives little to no exposure to the elements above ground, Snowdin is surprisingly...snowed in.

You’d balk at the terrible pun if you had time to stop and smell the proverbial roses, which you don’t - currently, you’re too busy ducking under the energy crescents being thrown at you by some strange ice dragon-like creature donning shades, and running as fast as your legs can carry you.

What is up with this place anyway, with all its fearful inhabitants and its numerous puzzles? While the latter’s already been taken care of by Flowey, and the former might only be your impression of the very few monsters you’ve seen on the way, neither help to settle the feeling that something is very, terribly off about this whole place. 

After what feels like hours of jogging and panting, you finally manage to reach a location somewhat reminiscent of civilization. “Welcome to Snowdin Town”, the introductory signboard reads, but given everyone else’s reaction to you, are you really welcome? You can only hope the locales here are friendlier than those in the forest.

It’s...rather nice here, honestly speaking. The town has an amicable, friendly atmosphere, unlike the forest you traversed, and you can’t help but slow down and let down your guard. Maybe someone around here would be willing to help you-

-instinctively, you flinch, gaze immediately darting towards whoever pulled your sleeve...oh! It’s just a little deer child, looking up at you with curiosity in their eyes. “H-hi! Welcome to Snowdin...w-wanna play catch with me?-”

“GYAAAAH! It’s a _human!_ Run for your lives!”

...okay, any hopes you had of receiving help from the locals are dashed. The monster child’s mother quickly takes her kid’s hand and joins the screaming, fleeing crowd, all before you can even fathom whatever’s going on (or even say hello to the little kid, for that matter). Civilians hurriedly rush inside and lock their doors, and before long the streets are deserted, and the once jovial atmosphere now gives an ominous, ghost town vibe.

 _...damn. Looks like I’m not welcome at all…_ You pick up the pace, sprinting past the remaining few monsters who haven’t locked themselves inside yet, and once again wonder why everyone down here is so deathly afraid of you. Is it just because you’re human? What does that have to do with anything? What happened here?

“Psst! Hey, buddy!” For once, you’re grateful for Flowey, that smiling, somewhat creepy weed, popping up near the northern path in the midst of all this chaos to guide you along. “This way!”

The flower pops out of the snowy ground again once you approach the outermost edges of Snowdin, where you hear the sounds of rushing water not far away from all the locked houses. Somehow, the flower looks almost...sympathetic for your plight? You can’t really tell. “Alright, bud! Just hitch a ride and you’re outta here!”

The ride in question is a small, wooden dinghy just off the shore, manned by no one, probably reachable if you jumped off the riverbank with a running start. You stare at it in mild disbelief, before turning back to the flower. “ _This_ is the ride?”

“Well, buddy, can you spot any others?” It sasses back at you, grinning its infuriatingly smug grin when you fail to answer it. “Good luck with that!”

You can’t even ask it to help you form a bridge to the boat because it’s already disappeared beneath the snow, and for a short moment you let out a groan. God, do your legs ache from all that running, but if this is what’ll get you out of here sooner...you make a mad dash for the riverbank, and _leap-_

-okay! You’re on the boat! You did not accidentally throw yourself face-first into the river like you thought you were going to do! Now to just-

“Tra la la…”

“- _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!_ ” Holy _shit!_ Who the hell is this guy? The _Grim Reaper?!_ Where the hell did _they_ come from? You just about lose your balance from screaming and being scared shitless, and instinctively reach out to grab onto something, _anything-_

-in a chaotic blur of motion, you somehow manage to cling onto the boat’s mast, and at some point in all this mess the hooded figure had somehow fallen into the river. Whoops.

Before you can even think that it’s all over, the boat goes ahead and _sprouts legs._ Yes, _full-fledged legs._

There’s really not much you can do from that point on but scream your head off and cling on for dear life as the boat takes off down the river like it’s trying to get the maritime equivalent of a speeding ticket.

Boy, are you going to have _quite_ the story to spill when you get back home.

* * *

 _...okay, okay, I’m not dead yet!...how am I not dead yet?_ By some miracle, you aren’t comically flung off the dinghy the second it jerks to a screeching halt, even though you swear your palms are the sweatiest they’ve ever been. You remain onboard for a while, trying to catch your breath from whatever _that_ wild ride was, and only when you can no longer feel your heart pumping in your chest do you dismount, and glance around at...whatever this new place is.

If Snowdin was a winter wonderland, this new place is practically its opposite in every single way. The instant you climb the stairs, hot wind blasts against your face, evaporating the moisture off your jacket and skin in a matter of seconds. How in the world is _this_ place just a short cruise down from Snowdin? Even if you weren’t suffering from mild heat exhaustion, among other things, you still probably wouldn’t be able to find a logical answer.

Either way, Hotland - or at least you assume this place is the Hotland Flowey referred to - really sucks ass. There’s nothing but lava pits and superheated rock platforms for miles, and the only structure of note you can find is a laboratory that is somehow not on fire from the constant heat.

“Hey!”

Okay, maybe the heat of this place is only just uncomfortable to you, if even a plant like Flowey is able to pop up here without immediately catching fire. Or Flowey is fire-resistant. At this point, either possibility is likely. “Looks like you’ve gotten a little lost,” the talking blossom remarks. Considering that the environment’s effectively just pulled a one-eighty on you…

“...hah. A “little lost” is probably putting it mildly,” you reply dryly, wiping away the sweat now beading on your forehead. You should really take off your jacket soon, and maybe your scarf as well, before the heat cooks you alive…

“Oh, I know that feel,” the flower chuckles, and in the blink of an eye it repositions itself near an elevator shaft some distance away. Huh, you hadn’t noticed that yet… “But no worries! Escape home is just ahead! This way!”

The lift doesn’t even wait for you to press a button before it shuts and ascends to the upper levels. Thankfully, it’s a long ride up, and for now you allow yourself to slump onto the carpeted floor, absolutely winded, and give yourself a moment to rest and breathe and ponder the _trip_ that was the past few hours.

_If what Flowey said is correct, all I have to do is make it through...here and this New Home place, then I’ll be outta here...right? Hopefully it’s not too late out by the time I head back to camp...Alyssa must be worried sick by now! And how am I supposed to explain all this to Dolan and the rest?_

...in the back of your mind, there remains a small, niggling doubt that you can’t seem to shake. If the Underground is to blame for the legend of Mount Ebott, surely there must be something else down here that’s stopped the other missing people from returning home? So far, you haven’t spotted any trace of the other lost cases, not even from that kid who disappeared into the mountain a month ago. Where did they go? Where did everyone go? At this point, there’s a pretty likely possibility that they’re all _dead_ by now…

_...I’ve made it this far, haven’t I? Surely I can make it past whatever’s kept the others down here, can’t I?..._

All too soon, the doors swing open, and you dash back into the heat, trying to keep your doubts from extinguishing that roaring flame of hope in your heart.

_It’s not long now. I’ll make it out soon. Right?..._

* * *

There’s a fancy hotel resort smack dab in the middle of lavaland. Immediately, this raises several questions as to who in their right mind would even stay here, and why this resort even exists in the first place, and why Flowey told you to pass through here to reach this so-called Core? Judging from the _really_ creative name, it seems to be some sort of nuclear power plant equivalent, which raises even more questions regarding civilian safety and OSHA compliances that you’re too busy to think about right now.

The interior of the resort is...incredibly unresort-like. By that you mean it looks and feels entirely abandoned, much like the streets of Snowdin once everyone noticed you were human and the ruins before it. Once again, you get the feeling that everything’s terribly off, but there’s nothing you can do about it but continue and hope that you can escape this hostile place sooner.

Quickly, you glance over the hotel lobby - there’s two paths on the left and right leading to...somewhere, a burger emporium up in front, a fountain with a statue of some calculator with arms on a wheel, surrounded by flowers and other memorabilia, and a back door straight ahead labeled with “CORE” in big, red letters. Bingo! Your destination is right up front. You push the doors open and marvel at the purely technological behemoth in front of you for a short moment...before you notice some sort of salamander monster peeking at you from the doorway, and you dash straight into the Core.

 _“Okay, buddy, just take the first lift you see in the Core and head straight up!”_...unfortunately, Flowey probably forgot to account for the fact that the elevator’s locked by touch identification, and you’re obviously not the person meant to access the lift. Maybe the other paths will lead you to another lift, or to some stairs, at least?

You’re given almost no time to look around the place - a shame, really, the Core looks like it’d be fun to explore - when you hear a commanding, gruff voice from behind which definitely isn’t Flowey’s.

“Hey you! Human!”

 _...Shit. I’m screwed._ Which you are, because you’re up against armed, armored monster _soldiers,_ and you’re up against a _whole_ _group of them._ Who _wouldn’t_ be screwed? Immediately, you make a break for it down the path, making several twists and turns through the labyrinth in an attempt to shake them, all while madly hoping your now-aching legs don’t give up on you just yet.

...oh boy, there’s _lasers_ here, who would’ve thought? Granted, this is a high-tech place with functions similar to a nuclear power plant, so of course it’d be well-guarded, but _an entire row of lasers?_ Just like the spy movies? A bit overkill, if you’d say so yourself. Unfortunately, you have zero time to mull over that, because the guards are catching up!...You slam down the nearest button you see at lightning speed, surprising yourself with the fact that it _does_ deactivate the lasers, and venture deeper into the maze that the Core is quickly proving itself to be.

Several minutes of sharp turns and running around like a headless chicken later, your legs finally give out on you, and you’re sent crashing unceremoniously onto the cold hard floor. For all that trouble’s worth, though, no one’s tailing you anymore, hopefully, and you’ve also found the lift again! Hooray!

“Hey there, bud!” Almost immediately you flinch and scramble to your aching feet, expecting one of the monster soldiers to have found you...oh. Thank god it’s just Flowey. “Nice to see you crashing in here! On the bright side, though, you’ll be outta here soon!”

“Yeah, I know...it’s New Home after this, right?” You ask, brushing the dust off your jacket and looking up at the doorway in front of you. _The exit’s probably through here, right?..._

“Yep!” The flower replies, flashing you another wide, cheerful grin, which has stopped unnerving the shit out of you at this point. “All you have to do is head through this last room, and...well, I’ll see you on the other side!” Once again, it disappears into the ground... _wait, the floor’s made of metal. How did Flowey burrow in here?_

Logical inconsistency aside, you give yourself a moment to breathe, steel your nerves, and then press on into the final room.

Not long now, right?

* * *

...oh boy, is it dark here. You’re just about to fumble in your jacket pocket for your flashlight when you look up, and manage to make out a silhouette in the dim light.

It’s a person! Or a very humanoid monster. One of the two. Personally, you highly doubt the former, but just in case...you raise your flashlight, and flip the switch-

-as it turns out, you’re right. They’re just a very humanoid...robot, judging from the bolts and the metal plating and whatever the hairstyle covering half their face is. Do robots count as monsters down here? Also, why is this guy so deathly pale-

“ _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!”_ ...holy shit, even they’re frightened of you. No, scratch that, they’re screaming as if they’re looking at _death itself._ Is it because you’re...human? What happened down here to make everyone fear humans so? Something very terribly wrong has definitely happened here before, you now know for sure, but wh-

“ _PLEASE!_ ...Please don’t hurt me!” Suddenly, they’re right up close to you, and for a fleeting moment you catch a glimpse of the pure _terror_ in their visible eye, wide with absolute fear, before you notice the sudden weight pushing you backwards - _them_ pushing you backwards - and you stumble over the railing before you can even process anything that’s happening. Gravity takes hold of you once again-

-there aren’t any flowers at the bottom of this pit to break your fall this time-

-you hear something _snap..._ and your world cuts to black.


	2. the girl left behind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s been several hours already, and there’s still no sign of your boyfriend anywhere. Where in the world did he go? ...surely the legends surrounding Mount Ebott have nothing to do with this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ironically, this chapter wasn’t even supposed to exist, and yet this was the idea that got written first! God, I love sitting in front of an open notebook at 11pm.

You know something is wrong when you spot Trey and Dolan returning to camp, and Marvel isn’t with them at all. “Hey, wait - didn’t Marvel go off with you two? Where is he?”

“Wait, he did follow us?” Dolan’s brows furrow as he scratches the back of his head, puzzled, and your anxiety begins to spike. “I’m sure he would’ve caught up with us a long time ago if he’d done so...you sure he didn’t say he’d go off alone?”

“...no, I could’ve sworn I heard him say he was off to poke around the mountain with you two,” you reply and push yourself to your feet, grabbing a spare flashlight from your bag and setting your sights towards the woods. “Hold on for a moment, I’m just gonna find him myself. I’ll be back in a bit.”

“...well, whatever you say, Ally! Don’t get lost too!” Trey hollers back, and even as you trek further away from the campfire you can just barely hear the two muttering about Marvel in worried, hushed tones. It’s nearly eleven, where in Mount Ebott could he be?

“Marv! Marvel! Where are you?” Several times you shout into the darkness, scaring away frightened mice and squirrels from your general vicinity, as you shine your flashlight into every nook and cranny available in this forest, impatiently searching for even a sign.

“Marvel! It’s really, really late…” You can practically hear your voice growing increasingly hoarse as you round what seems to be the same neck of the woods again, following the myriad footprints left in the dirt and fallen leaves. Before long, your searching and shouting leads you to a very conspicuous cavern entrance, surrounded by tree roots, the ground within immediately giving way to an extremely long drop.

 _Maybe he might be in here?..._ You entertain that thought for a moment, but shining your torchlight into the hole reveals nothing but the darkness of the abyss. For a second, you ponder venturing down the hole, and then immediately dismiss that extremely stupid, reckless idea. Who knows how many bones you might break on the way down? And for all that’s worth, he might not even be in there... _Marvel, please tell me you’re not in there._

As time flies by in a growing cyclone of panic and dread, you can’t help but begin to doubt your skepticism of Mount Ebott’s legend. All those who disappear in the mountain never return. _Marvel might’ve disappeared too, like that kid from last month and all those cases from years past, and…_

-immediately, you force yourself to focus on finding him, and not on that intrusive, depressing thought. _No. No! He’s not missing...he’s got to be somewhere around here! I just have to find him, that’s all!_

Your once absolute denial of the worst possible scenario starts to wither the longer you press on, as the forest all starts to blend together into an infuriatingly familiar set of pathways. “Marvel’s not missing. He’s not missing,” you tell yourself, throat tight and dry from crying into the woods so much. “He’s fine. I _will_ find him within this god-forsaken forest sooner or later, and then we can head back to camp and forget all this ever happened…”

What ungodly hour of the night is it by the time you collapse onto your knees, tears threatening to spill as you stubbornly attempt to pick yourself back up and keep searching? How many times have you shouted, then called, then whispered his name into the forest, your voice dwindling in volume until all you can muster is a raspy, dry mumbling? What time is it when Trey and Dolan finally find you crumpled and broken on the earthy ground, chest racked with the painful sobs you can’t hold back anymore?

“...h-hold on,” You barely choke out, once again hellbent on forcing your legs to just _work, damnit,_ and stand on unsteady, exhausted footing. “Guys, just g-give me a l-little more time, I-I still-”

“...Ally,” Trey whispers, her normally exuberant, cheerful demeanor now terribly distraught, and she gives you a shoulder to lean on. “It’s...it’s almost one in the morning, Ally…”

“...oh.” So what if it’s one in the morning, you still haven’t found your boyfriend-

“I don’t know where Marvel is either, but...we really need to head back-”

“...no, not yet,” you reply through ragged breaths, too tired to stop yourself from leaning your whole weight against her. “H-he’s out there somewhere...unless he’s already back at c-camp, I still - I can’t just…”

“Alyssa. Look,” Dolan sighs, and your heart sinks further upon seeing his saddened, exasperated expression. “I...I’m sorry. He didn’t come back to camp at all, and believe me when we say we’ve also been turning Mount Ebott upside down trying to find the guy…we thought we’d at least get you back to camp before you go missin’ too…”

“...n-no,” you sob, wiping the tears furiously from your eyes as you attempt to stand on your own. _He’s not going to be like the missing cases in this mountain!_ “H-he’s out there somewhere! Marvel can’t have just...disappeared into thin a-air...I...I haven’t even told him yet how much I-”

The next several minutes pass by in a daze of deliriousness, exhaustion and lingering denial, mostly to yourself. By the time Trey and Dolan drag your figuratively half-dead self back to camp and into your sleeping bag, all you can vaguely recall is the dry sobs that rack your body as you pass out, crying yourself to sleep.


	3. ghost in the machine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pain of that day is all too fresh in their mind. If anything, they really don’t need another untimely reminder of all that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...This chapter physically hurt me so hard that I cried after writing the first draft, had a gut ache, and inflicted upon myself a mild dose of insomnia, in no particular order. Fun times.
> 
> In unrelated news, I am running on four hours of sleep as I post this.

_ “MY, MY, SO YOU HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED.” _

Once upon a terrible time, in this very room, they’d watched on as their cousin - the Underground’s star - made his final stand against the human threatening to wipe out all of monsterkind, wings flared and eyes crackling with lightning.

_ Bang! _

_ “GH...GUESS YOU DIDN’T WANT TO JOIN MY FAN CLUB?” _

Once upon a terrible time, they saw him die right in front of their very eyes, and it was far too late for them to do anything about it.

Once upon a terrible time, they’d entered his lifeless, broken body in desperation, in denial, and the rest...is a bitter, painful history they only wish they could forget.

Napstablook stares down into the pits of the Core below, watching the events of that fateful day play out over and over again in their mind. Sometimes in slow motion, sometimes in excruciatingly vivid detail, but always they can only look on helplessly with grief and bitterness and with no small amount of  _ regret _ .

“...I wish...we could have talked...that day…”

But that day is long gone. Mettaton is long gone, and no amount of wishing is ever going to turn back the clock, to undo their stupid, reckless decision. They know that all too painfully well.

It took some...getting used to, to put it lightly, and they’re still not entirely comfortable with it, but they’ve learned to live with the consequences of their actions. Sort of...they haven’t yet figured out how to let go of all the emotional baggage associated with it, though.

That’s why they’re here today - to make peace with their situation. To try and move on from the past.

…

...it’s going to be a long while before they can ever move on, actually.

It’s also going to be a long while before they can ever get used to walking, too - the very second they release their grip on the railing, they just about trip on their own heels, and then promptly decide that maybe holding onto the railing is a good idea for now.

...no one’s around to spot that embarrassing blunder, right? ...Good.

Slowly, they steady themself and inch their way towards the exit, staring down at their feet half the time. Right foot goes first, then they put their left foot down in front of that, and then…

...they almost fail to notice the shuffle of footsteps in the darkness, and the human right in front of them.

...human.

...Human, like the murderous child who felled everyone and everything in their path, a harbinger of death to all those who stayed behind, or couldn’t escape in time.

... _ Human,  _ like the murderous child who killed their cousin without hesitation. Who shot round after round into them without mercy, until they were on the cusp of death.

There’s a human right in front of them. The boy pulls out a flashlight, and flips the switch-

_ -the fallen human points the barrel of their gun right at them, and pulls the trigger- _

-this is it. This is that terrible day all over again, except this time, there’s absolutely nothing that can save them from this human’s wrath. This time they’re going to die here, in the exact same spot their cousin died, in the spot they should’ve died on long ago-

Amidst all their hysterical screaming, the boy looks up at them, green eyes tinged with confusion and concern, all too terrifyingly reminiscent of the genocidal human’s murderous glare, glinting blood-red in the darkness-

“ _ PLEASE! _ ” They cry, knowing their pleas will ultimately be pointless, that this human won’t let up until they’re nothing more than dust, but they’re just so scared and frightened and no, they don’t want to die right here, right now-

“ _ Please don’t hurt me! _ ”

At some point in all their panic they must’ve let go of the railing, because they trip on their heels and scream, reflexively holding their arms out to break their fall, and suddenly they’re pushing the boy over the edge of the railing-

…

...and the human is gone.

He’s gone. 

They haven’t escaped that unscathed, though. Sharp, white-hot pain pulses through a crack in the glass containing their core, the sensation vaguely reminiscent of a bullet to the torso, and it’s enough to force them to bite their lip and wince.

Despite the lingering pain clouding their vision, they can still make out the soft, yellow glow illuminating the bottom of the pit, brighter than any flashlight, and with mounting horror they pick themself up off the ground and stare into the abyss below, dread building in the back of their mind.

It’s a human soul, hovering above the boy’s lifeless body as it shines like a star, and the realization and the guilt crushes them all at once.

They’ve killed a human.

...Worse still, they’ve killed an  _ innocent  _ human who didn’t even attack them, whose only fault was appearing in the wrong place at the wrong time. All he did was point his flashlight, while they…

...they’re just as bad as that fallen child, aren’t they?...

They can’t hear anything else over the resulting emotional whirlwind, with Sans and the voices of the royal guards below drowned out by the debilitating regret and the lingering pain and their conscience screaming that  _ this is all their fault, and there is no redemption for them now. _

As much as they wish that all this didn’t happen, no amount of wishing will ever turn back the clock and undo their mistakes.

_ Now what?...  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...hallelujah, I can sleep now!...
> 
> ...and then watch as I stupidly attempt to write EN from Napstablook’s point of view, despite knowing full well that their perspective is easily one of the most depressing things I’ve tried to write in (see: the numerous times I took a break from second drafting this because of sudden feels). More at 2021.

**Author's Note:**

> ...this is the longest chapter I’ve written, ever. How? More specifically, why?


End file.
